Important Article On Pay And Fatigue
 

Regional carriers, including American Eagle, face pilot training review | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

The last paragraph: Unions have argued that the regional pilots – whose annual salaries start around $20,000 on average – can become fatigued as they try to accumulate hours.

Regulators said the quick response stemmed in part from White House concern about revelations of regional carriers' reliance on inexperienced and low-paid pilots.


I do believe that pay and fatigue are tied together. How many regional pilots are kept up at night thinking about paying bills and making ends meet.... or working second or third jobs? I do.

Everything in the media is good momentum for our cause. Write your reps and spread the word!

I do too. My bank account is down to zero dollars as of yesterday. My my mother had to send me money through western union, I was so embarrased to ask but i had to do it..

What makes you think this will lead to anything positive for the pilots? Everyone knows that low pay did not bring 3407 down and no one, certainly gov has any authority over changing an airlines pay. The duty limits could change but I just don't see anything overwhelming here that would prompt an industry wide change of regs written about a thousand years ago. All they will do is harass the new and current pilots and make them do extra sim all because one night someone forgot how to get an airplane out of a stall. Ask anyone, most will tell you that their regional training was as hard if not harder than at the majors or corp. Not to mention this whole thing is contradictory because these pilots were "high timers" by regional standards. Almost 2500 for the FO and I think 3500 for the CA, mostly tprop.

Whats that quote about... it's easier to say no we can't rather than yes we can. Naysayers will always lurk on these forums. Nice try.

This isn't just about 3407, its about how much our low pay has been in the news lately. Most people didn't know it was this low.

That's your idea of a high timer for a regional? While there are FOs with exceptions out there there's nothing even close to high time about them. I have 4300ish hours and don't consider myself to be high time. I think I'm in the middle.

That's one of the more clueless statements I've seen in a while. Ever heard of the RLA? You should read it and realize what it's done to us and then reevaluate your previous comment.

You didn't high light properly. If you did, you would have seen that I said no one, certainly the gov, has any authority to change airline pay.

True I screwed up the quoting but that's mostly due to the fact that I'm partially drunk and just finished 6 days of flying. Either way, the point is that the government is the only one who has ANY control over our wages right now. I'd love to see how a pilot group has any leverage when the government prevents them from ever striking.

No I don't consider 2500 as low time for a regional. Flight time is all relative. If you're a 4300ish hour FO, then it's not exactly higher than a 3500 hour CA as far as experience.

Glad to see this post. Thank you for taking the time. If people can't meet the minimum obligations of life (bills, food, etc.) it naturally degrades their ability to focus their complete attention on other tasks (i.e. flying an airplane). It's not a matter of opinion it is just part of being human.

Even when a conscious decision is made to leave one's troubles out of the cockpit, the degradation to the mind and body has already occurred.